


Of the Eagles

by sellyoursoulforagoodname



Series: Kiesha'ra Rewritten [1]
Category: Kiesha'ra Series - Amelia Atwater-Rhodes
Genre: F/M, Nacola's kinda a bitch, So be warned
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-20
Updated: 2016-04-14
Packaged: 2018-03-13 21:13:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 22
Words: 21,097
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3396548
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sellyoursoulforagoodname/pseuds/sellyoursoulforagoodname
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was never Danica that married Zane to bring an end to the war. Instead, it was her long ignored, long shunned older sister. An easy choice for a hateful mother to make, sending her outcast daughter away into the snake's nest to try to end the war-if she died, no on important was missing. Zane/OC. I own nothing. AU</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

"You should address my daughter; she will be Tuuli Thea soon."

Kyra Shardae scoffed at these words, drawing the attention of one Zane Cobriana. She could not see him due to the gold band that was in its usual place around her head to cover her eyes, but she could  _feel_  his gaze on her. It was believed that the eldest of Nacola's daughters was blind—hence the "decorative" band—but her senses were legendary. It was said that she could hold her own in battle even without her eyes.

"Kyra, is it true—"

"I believe you misunderstand." Nacola interrupted the Disa. "Kyra will not gain the throne because of her . . . weakness. Danica will become Tuuli Thea."

Zane eyed the elder daughter curiously once this was said. The elder's fist tightened when her mother announced this; it was the only outward sign of her anger she allowed. Kyra was truly a curious thing when compared to the rest of her family. She wore dark brown attire in contrast to Danica's golden ware and black hair to her sister's and mother's light brown.

"My lady Shardae, I am fully aware of your . . . distaste for your elder daughter, but the idea I am about to propose is more easily accepted if it is not the crown princess." The Disa sounded vaguely annoyed. "Join the two royal families; let your people follow the example of their leaders."

"I am willing to test this idea." Nacola said too quickly. She seemed to be jumping at the chance to rid her family of its imperfection.

"If it will end this war . . . I will try anything." Zane agreed slowly.

"Good. You will depart for Serpiente lands in the morning. Return to your chambers and rest," the Disa dismissed the two of the royal families.

Kyra growled to herself as she quickly left the hall.  _I should have known she would have no care for my survival,_ she thought angrily as she entered her room. She was about to rip off the covering over her eyes when she became aware of another presence.

"Who is there?" she demanded instantly, shifting so her ear was toward the door.

"Impressive, your guard did not even notice my presence."

"What do you want, Zane?" Kyra sighed, but she did not relax.

"I thought it wise to have a word with my future Naga." Zane replied, watching her. "I am not going to attack you or whatever it is you are thinking."

"I have only survived this long by not trusting people. If I did, my mother would have had me killed long ago."

"She was rather quick to agree to this . . . arrangement." He agreed. Kyra could hear him sit on one of the room's large pillows.

"I have been a stain on her  _perfect_ family since I was born." Kyra spat.

Zane could  _almost see_  her eyes flashing in anger. "Why is that? Based on looks you are just as perfect as them."

"By Serpiente standards, sure. But by the hawks' of the keep . . . I think not."

"So what do  _you_  think of this arrangement?" he inquired.

"I do not much care, so long as I am away from those  _people_." She admitted. "I do, however, hope that this works. This war is pointless and causes many unnecessary deaths."

"Many in my family have been killed for it." Zane sounded regretful. "Why does your family hate you so much as to send you into enemy lands on a faint hope?"

"I was born . . . different."

"Your blindness?"

"In a manner of speaking. I'm also of the avian royal family, but I am no hawk."

" _What?_ " he sounded shocked.

"I am a black eagle."

Zane stared. Kyra could feel him staring. "Eagles are more dangerous than hawks. It was believed that that line died out long ago."

"I am the first in centuries. Apparently, it has been a trait hidden in the family since then."

"That is wondrous! Why would they shun that?" he wondered.

"It threatens to take power away from the hawks. I have been locked away, out of sight from the world since I was a child." Zane could see a couple of tears roll down her cheek from under the band.

She jumped when he gently brushed the tears away. His skin was cool compared to her unusually hot skin—even for avian standards. She was quite surprised at how gentle the touch was. Her fingers dug into his arms as she grabbed them, bowing her head and using her dark hair as a curtain.

"Don't hide from me, Kyra." Zane pleaded. "You are going to be my Naga soon enough. I will not ask you for anything physical unless you wish for it, but I do ask that you do not hide yourself from me."

"Do you realize that all anyone's ever told me is to hide who I really am?" Kyra offered a small smile as she looked up at him . . . well faced him again.

"I can assure you that I will never hide you from the world" he promised.

"Thank you." She said genuinely. "I barely even know you, your people have been our enemies for centuries, and you already treat me better than my own family." Her grip finally loosened, but she still held his forearms.

He chuckled. "You are unique; you fascinate me."

"Even though you just met me and I've been your enemy?" she joked weakly.

"You show emotion, unlike the rest of your kind. That is an important quality to my people. Do you mind if I ask you something entirely personal?"

"You've already seen me cry, so why not?"

"Why do you cover your eyes? You're blind, but that's no reason to hide them. With your senses, you would be able to fool people into believing you can see."

She hesitated. "Well . . . you are going to be my mate . . . Take off the band."

Zane started a bit, confused as Kyra released his arms. "What?"

"Take off the band. There have been many lies cast around my existence. You should know the truth."

Hesitantly, Zane reached up and lifted the golden circle off of his future Naga's head. The part of her face that had been hidden was just as beautiful as the rest of her face.

"Why did you—"

Zane broke off as her eyes opened to meet his. His Cobriana fiery garnet was met with bold scarlet.

"So you are as attractive as rumor says." Kyra stated with a smirk. She let her eyes rake up and down his form leisurely, taking in the broad shoulders, pale skin, and dark hair.

"How?" Zane was dumfounded.

"I'm not blind. My darling mother came up with that lie was an excuse to hide my eyes."

Zane was having problems forming words. "What—Why—How are they red?" he managed eventually.

"No one knows. Not enough is documented from the eagles' reign to know if it was a normal trait. My mother believed that it was a curse laid upon her by your people."

"They're beautiful . . ." he breathed, his hand ghosting over her cheek.

Kyra jerked away instinctively. "Zane, remember that, no matter how unusual I am, I am still an avian. I am still unaccustomed to . . . contact."

"I apologize," he breathed. "Perhaps it would be best to take my leave for tonight."

"Probably."

Naturally, that was when Kyra's guard burst into the room. His sword was drawn within an instant of seeing the cobra. Zane tensed, and Kyra stepped in front of him. A visible chill made its way through the guard as she met his eyes.

"Is there a problem here?" he forced out.

"Zane was just discussing a few things. There is no danger here."

"Kyra what is—" Nacola cut herself off as she entered the room to see the cobra standing behind her eldest daughter whose eyes were now glaring at her mother. " _What_  is going on here?"

"I will not repeat myself, dear mother, as you so obviously just want to get rid of me." Kyra snarled.

Zane stared in shock as she protected him. The rejected heir was protected her former enemy against her own mother. This whole experience was rather surreal.

"Kyra Shardae, you will not—"

"Speak to you that way?" Kyra interrupted. "Why should I respect you? You gave me away to a man you believe is an enemy, but in the last twenty minutes he's treated me beter than you have in the past eighteen  _years_."

"How dare you?! And why do you have those monstrous eyes uncovered?!" Nacola screeched.

"Because my future mate deserved to know the truth about me" Kyra's voice was deceptively calm, but Zane could see the tenseness in her body. "And he would never hear the truth from the likes of  _you._ "

"I believe that she is perfect." Zane spoke up.

"Of course you would, you  _snake_."

Everyone in the room could see him tense like the cobra that he was, ready to strike. His movements held the grace of a Serpiente warrior in battle as he stepped up beside Kyra.

"I will end this war with Kyra by my side to bind our people, but I never want to see you around her again." He hissed.

"Easily done." Nacola hissed. "But until tomorrow, she is still under my control, so get out."

Zane pulled Kyra to him in a passionate kiss of defiance before shifting forms and disappearing into the darkness.

"Now  _you_  get out." Kyra ordered.

It wasn't until both the guard and Tuuli Thea left that Kyra noticed that the gold band for her eyes was missing. Zane had taken it with him.


	2. Chapter 2

The next day saw Kyra waking up to someone lightly shaking her and calling her name with a gentle voice.

"I'm awake." She grumbled, burying her head in her pillow.

"Kyra, we need to get moving, The Disa requested that I was the one to wake you." The voice was male and familiar, but Kyra couldn't quite place it in her half-asleep state.

"I'm awake," she restated as she looked up at her living alarm. "Oh, Zane." She could feel her face heat up slightly when she saw the way his garnet eyes raked down her form; the fact that he was only wearing his slacks didn't help much, either.

"Should I be flattered by that charming blush?" he asked with a small smile as he ran a finger down her cheek.

"Should I be flattered about you eyeing me like you are?" Kyra countered. "So, what's going on?"

"I was pleasantly woken this morning by the Disa telling me to get up right then to come wake you up," he said blandly. "It seems like you are now out of your mother's control, though."

"What do you mean?" she asked as she sat up, covering her nightgown-clad form with the blankets.

"She, your sister, and all of their guards left during the night."

"I should have known. By the way, I need my circlet t back."

"Why? You have nothing to be ashamed of." Zane said genuinely. "And nothing to hide."

"I know that, but I want to keep the ruse for now to test if anyone will try to exploit my weakness."

"As you wish," he sighed. "When we return today, we will be left alone to prepare for the ceremony tomorrow."

"So we will be able to get slightly acquainted then." Kyra nodded. "How are we traveling? I'm fairly sure that they will have taken my horse."

Zane shrugged. "You can ride with me on mine, if you wish."

"Sounds good to me." Kyra shrugged. "We should likely get dressed."

"True. Oh, and I want you to have this." He slid his signet ring off of his left ring finger and handed it to her. It was cool despite having been on his hand. "It will protect you from harm if we get separated somehow once in Serpiente lands. Few would harm one wearing the Cobriana signet."

"Thank you." Kyra said sweetly.

"I will bring your circlet once I am dressed." Zane said softly, turning to leave the room.

"Thank you." Kyra repeated quietly, still trying to process how it felt to be treated like a  _person_  instead of a monster.

"Of course," he replied. "As I said before, no harm will come to you if I can help it."


	3. Chapter 3

When Zane was on his way back to Kyra's room, he took a moment to ponder the avian. He found it quite difficult to believe how terribly her family had treated her in the few minutes he'd witnessed. He was concerned about his soon-to-be Naga because of said treatment; it had to have left some form of psychological scarring on the eagle. He never would have guessed that his former enemy would treat the true heir like one of the Serpiente. He sighed his confusion out as he opened her door.

Zane froze when he saw her. Kyra was wearing an outfit that exactly mirrored his own—it must have been provided by the Disa. She wore black slacks with an iridescent sheen to the mile they were some form of animal skin and a black silk top. She was gazing out the window longingly at the sky.

"Did you know that they once tried to clip my wings in order to keep me from being seen in my other form?" she asked quietly, not taking her eyes off of the sky. "I managed to fight my way out but not without a price."

That was when Zane noticed the long, thin scar down the back of her neck, disappearing into her hairline. He could only imagine how it looked in her other form.

"They learned that an angry eagle is not so easily controlled." Kyra finally turned to look at Zane. "In a way, I have to thank you for getting me away from them."

"Had I known they were treating their own as such, I wouldn't care if you were supposed to be my enemy; I would have gotten you out of there sooner." He replied earnestly. "My mother and sister are waiting for us; we need to go." Zane said after a few moments' silence as he handed her the circlet.

Hiding those bright red eyes from his sight once more, Kyra donned the gold band. "Lead the way." She ordered, allowing a small smile through the reserve she hid behind once more as she held her arm out to him.

"But you navigated here last night with no trouble," he pointed out, putting her hand around his arm on his bicep.

"Ah, but no one knows that."

"You love the false weakness angle, don't you?" Zane asked. He began leading them to the entrance of the Mistari palace.

"The element of surprise is a good tactic for someone like me." She shrugged.

"How very Serpiente of you," he teased.

"Look! I'm already blending in."

"You are a very unusual avian." Zane chuckled. "My horse is right in front of us."

"I know; I can hear it. Help me up."

A few minutes later, the pair were seated semi-comfortably in the saddle of the rather tall horse. Kyra was in front while Zane was behind with the reigns in his hands. His arms were lightly wrapped around the eagle.

"It is an honor to have such a fine young woman as part of our family." Zane's mother said, sounding rather genuine to Kyra's ears.

"Thank you. Your son has already made me feel more welcome than Nacola ever did." Kyra replied. Her head was facing slightly down so the python Naga couldn't read her expression. "My people have been so wrong for all these years."

"About what?" Irene asked curiously.

"The Serpiente are very kind, generous people if its leaders are anything to go by.

"I am very flattered." Charis said with a smile. "I hope that we can base the same conclusion off of you."

"You can't." Kyra said bluntly. "My people would never give you the chance. I have a different perspective than most avians given my . . . unique circumstances."

"What do you mean?" Irene inquired.

"That can be discussed at length once we're back home." Zane spoke up as Kyra lifted her head as if to watch the path ahead of them.

"I think you're right, Zane." Charis agreed. "Kyra, dear, are you feeling well?"

Kyra shook her head "no." "I did not sleep well last night; I rarely do."

"Hopefully that will change how." Irene said optimistically.

"Why don't you try to get some rest now? I doubt my son will let you fall."

"He'd  _better_  not." Irene threatened, sending a glare at the Cobriana prince with red eyes a few shades darker than his.

Zane rolled his eyes. "I won't let anything happen to you, Kyra. Get some rest."

"I don't—"

"Relax, little avian." Irene teased. "We won't tell anyone that you let down your precious reserve."

"But—"

"Kyra, you and I are going to be mated tomorrow; I don't believe it's a great crime tfor you to get some rest while riding a horse with me."

The eagle sighed. "You're right."

She proceeded to remover her circlet, put it on the saddle horn, and shift into a more comfortable position. Kyra was now leaning back into Zane's chest with her head tucked into the hollow where his neck and shoulder met. Before long, she sank into a dreamless sleep.

"She fits with this family better than I expected." Charis said quietly, gazing at her soon-to-be daughter-in-law.

"For a bird." Adelina scoffed rudely.

Zane ignored her to respond to his mother. "From what I've observed, she is very unlike the rest of her people."

"She has obviously had a harder life than we thought the Shardae line were capable of." Irene agreed.

"There is much we did not know about their elder princess." Zane agreed, looking down at her.

Once again, he was struck silent by her peaceful beauty. When Kyra was asleep, the tightness around her eyes where she subconsciously tried to see—even when the circlet was on—relaxed.

"You are already falling in love with her, aren't you?" Adelina asked, voice quiet with the sorrow of losing her lover.

"I . . . don't know," he replied honestly, still gazing at her.

"Well, it's a good thing if you are." Irene said seriously. "I don't want my brother to be alone and loveless, especially considering the rumors of how avian mates love."

"That is not a rumor based on what Eleanor tells me." Zane said.

Avians and their Alistairs slept separately from each other except to procreate. Serpiente—especially the Cobriana—almost always slept with another, be it as a lover or just for the company of another. They thrived on the company of others.

"But, in response to that sentiment, I will do whatever it takes to uphold this peace." Zane admitted.

"You don't have to change what you are because of me." Kyra's sleepy voice drifted up to him. "I know all too well how that is. I do not mind sharing a bed with you; it is your nature to have another with you."

He was honestly shocked. "Thank you."

This eagle seemed to never stop surprising him.

She opened her eyes just enough for him to see the smile that resided there. The other two Cobriana could not see her eyes from their current position. He returned her expression with a smirk.

"You truly astound me."

"It's what I do." Kyra replied before closing her eyes again.

"Go back to sleep, Kyra," he said gently.

"Sweet dreams, dear." Charis smiled at the exchange.

She was glad at the fast-blooming relationship between the two heirs. Zane had never taken to a woman this quickly before—Adelina included. Kyra was truly a unique individual. It would prove interesting to have her around the palace. Charis was amazed at how well Kyra handled herself despite her blindness.

"We are lucky to have such an understanding little hawk in her midst." Irene said, gazing at Kyra fondly.

Zane didn't think it was his place to correct her on the species.

 


	4. Chapter 4

Later, when the group made it back to the Serpiente palace, Zane gently shook Kyra awake. He assumed that she would have mumbled something and tried to go back to sleep if she'd ben any race besides avian.

"We're at the palace." He said quietly.

"Oh." She replied, sitting up. Zane was suddenly stricken with a sense of loss as her worm heat moved away.

Pushing the feeling aside, he climbed down gracefully off of the horse. "Do you want me to help you?"

She nodded, letting the cobra pick her up off the horse and keep her in his arms. That alone let him know exactly how out of it she was. He chuckled a bit as he started towards his private chambers in the inner palace, intending to take her to a branch room that would be hers and hers alone.

"Zane," Kyra's voice drifted up to him, "can I stay with you tonight? New places make me nervous."

He was in shock; he knew precisely how much it meant for an avian to request something like that. "Of course," he replied without hesitation. Zane would never turn down such an innocent request. Besides, it meant that he would not have to sleep alone.

Kyra immediately burrowed into the luxurious bed, sighing her content without even bothering to change clothes. Chuckling to himself, Zane removed his dress shirt, shoes, and socks before slithering into the bed as well. Zane made sure to leave plenty of space between them, but Kyra scooted closer almost instantly. Her natural warmth seemed to soak into him, making the cobra feel sleepy. Right before he nodded off, the Arami remembered to take Kyra's circlet off his belt loop where he'd put it before picking her up, but it didn't quite make it to the floor, instead only reaching the pillow beside her before he nodded off.

 


	5. Chapter 5

Kyra groaned as she awoke to something stabbing her in the throat. Feeling around, she found that it was her circlet. It clattered to the floor when she threw it away violently.

That was when she noticed the arms around her waist and under her head. Not to mention the warm air she could feel on the back of her neck or the strong, lazy heartbeat against her back. She knew that, because of her avian reserve, she should want to get away from her former enemy, but having Zane hold her like this was too comfortable.

Resolving to pay no mind to her own culture, Kyra rolled over so that she was facing the cobra price. She wrapped her arms around him and nuzzled her head into the hollow at the base of his throat. Had she been able to see his face, she would have seen the ruby eye crack open and the soft smile on his face as Zane rested his chin on top of her head.

Both enjoyed the other's company for a few minutes before Zane spoke up. "We should probably get up soon."

Kyra's only response was a grunt.

"I'm glad that you're comfortable with this." The feared cobra hesitated after that sentence before adding, "With me."

Kyra shrugged. "I was already an outcast from avian culture anyway. Besides, you're a lot different than the rumor at the Keep describes."

"How so?"

"You were described as evil, untrustworthy, and—well—hideous to be quite honest." She replied, looking up at him. "To hell with perfectly emotionless avian standards. You're hot."

Zane smirked. "Oh? Why thank you." Kyra didn't even blush like he expected. "You aren't exactly how rumor depicted you, either."

"Do tell." The eagle prompted.

"Well, you were blind, for one." They shared a chuckle at that. "And you were cold, heartless, and pampered. I'm not going to lie, though; the rumors always said that you were beautiful, even by our standards."

Kyra raised her eyebrows. "'Even by your standards'?"

"Especially by our standards." He amended with a smile. Kyra matched his smile with a cheesy grin. "Can I ask you something?" he asked seriously. She nodded. "May I kiss you?"

There was a pause where the couple just stared into each other's eyes. Scarlet meeting garnet.

"Yes." Kyra replied, leaning closer to him—even though they were stilled cuddled up together.

Of course, that was when there was an impatient knock at the door.

"Sir," Adelina's voice drifted through the door, "your mother asked me to tell the two of you to start preparing for the ceremony." The viper's voice was cold even when muffled by the sturdy door. "You only have three hours."

Kyra groaned. "You know, one advantage to being the outcast was that no one cared where I was and when. I never had to be anywhere . . . except for the meeting with the Disa."

Zane chuckled. "Then that's one more thing that you're going to have to get used to."

"Well, I've already discovered one thing I like about being here," she hinted.

"And what might that be?"

"I don't have nightmares when I'm with you. I've been plagued with them every night since I was a child, but last night . . . nothing."

The cobra took one look at the relieved content expression on her face and couldn't resist; he pulled her forward into a kiss with a hand on the back of her neck. Kyra allowed it without hesitation.

While their tongues danced together, Zane found his hands carding through her hair. He froze when his fingers grazed the feathers hidden at the nape of her neck.

"Sorry," he whispered, breaking the kiss. "It's just—"

"It's weird compared to what you're used to." Kyra nodded, seemingly unfazed by his reaction.

"Still," Zane argued, meeting her gaze, "I haven't judged you for any of your secrets yet, but I freeze at a trait that all avians have."

Kyra laughed, a clear, honest sound. "That's one of the main reasons that it doesn't bother me. You would have done that no matter what avian it was kissing you. Relax, Zane. One small reaction isn't going to make me hate you or anything."

The cobra stared, once more stunned into silence by the amazing creature that he was sharing a bed with. Kyra snapped him out of it a few moments later by drumming her fingers on his sternum.

"Come on, snake boy. We have to get up." She teased. "And don't hate me, but I'm going to fall back to my people's customs while in the public eye for a bit. Just until we know exactly how your people are going to react to me. I'll drop it when I drop the blind thing."

Zane sighed in defeat. He didn't particularly like the idea of the eagle he was quickly falling for—not that he would admit it aloud yet—hiding herself away from him.

"Would it be too forward of me to ask that you keep being yourself when it's just us?" he asked quietly.

Kyra paused. "Of course not. But I will remind you once more that there is only so much I'm willing to show so soon. We've just about reached my limit as it is."

"Duly noted," he smiled. "The only thing is, during the ceremony, we will be expected to show a degree of . . . intimacy before our people."

Kyra immediately caught the use of the word "our" A small wave of happiness washed over her at that usually insignificant word. Pushing the feeling aside for now, Kyra questioned him, "What do you mean . . . 'intimacy'?" She was fine with t in private for now, but in front of the entire Serpiente court . . . ?

"Don't worry." Zane assured her. "A small kiss and some hand-holding should suffice. I will keep the crowd away from you; normally they would want to touch and hug their new Naga. I'm sure they will understand that these are unusual circumstances.

Another hesitation. "Okay. Whatever it takes to end this blasted war."

"You are incredible." He breathed, kissing her chastely one last time before climbing out of the luxurious bed.


	6. Chapter 6

The next hour gave way to Kyra having to feign composure while two Serpiente women—a pit viper and a rat snake apparently—fitted her for the dress that she would wear to the ceremony. Kyra was genuinely impressed with their handiwork. Once the two had finished and let her be for the time being, the eagle removed the circlet to see just what she was wearing.

The dress was stunning. It was a deep red satin material that hugged her body in all the right places, making her look almost ethereal. Overall, it was vaguely reminiscent of a tunic-style dress with a golden clasp holding the single shoulder strap together. It flowed beautifully all the way to the floor.

Soon, Kyra found herself being fitted for jewelry to complete the ensemble; the pair had suddenly returned, forcing the eagle to quickly put her circlet back on in the split-second before they opened the door once more. Golden bracelets were then placed on her wrists along with a pair of upper-arm bands around her biceps—she knew they were gold because the women commented about how well they matched the dress's clasp. She could feel a heavy necklace being placed on her while her hair was pulled up, but naturally she couldn't see what it looked like.

"You look amazing." Zane's voice came from the direction of the door.

The cobra had entered a few moments before and had stared in awe at the sight of his very-soon-to-be Naga. He could see that the necklace she was wearing was a golden collar with a ruby at the center of her throat.

"Just in time, Zane," the pit viper commented with a smile. "We've just finished, and there is about a half-hour before the ceremony."

"Wonderful," he replied with a smile. "Could you give us a few minutes alone?"

"Of course, sir," the rat snake replied with a little curtsy before both left the room.

As soon as Kyra heard them leave, she removed the circlet carefully; she wanted to just rip it off, but that would have undone the hairdo they'd worked so hard on. When she looked at Zane, she noticed that his attire consisted of a satin shirt of the exact same shade as her dress and a pair of slacks similar to the ones he'd worn the previous day. His silver signet ring was back on his left ring finger since she'd returned it to him before they parted that morning.

"You look pretty good yourself." Kyra joked weakly.

"Only pretty good?" he teased, trying to lighten her mood. "You're having a hard time with the people touching you thing, aren't you?"

She nodded. "I thought I could just ignore it, but it would seem that Avian customs are more ingrained in me than I originally assumed. I seem to be fine with  _you_  touching me, but others . . . put me on edge."

"Then I'm charmed that you don't feel that way towards me," he bowed. "Let me see your hand." Zane said, changing the topic abruptly.

Kyra eyed him strangely did as ordered without question. The cobra pulled a golden ring from his pocket. It was a Cobriana signet ring that was gold and ruby where his was silver and onyx.

"I had this made for you this morning by a blacksmith acquaintance of mine."

"It's . . . beautiful." Kyra breathed. "Thank you."

Zane smiled and placed a gentle kiss to her forehead. "It had to match the beauty of its wearer."

"Now you're just trying to charm me."

"Is it working?"

She glared at him playfully. " . . . Maybe."

A quiet knock at the door alerted them to someone's presence. "The ceremony is going to start in a few minutes." Charis's voice drifted through said door. "Are the two of you ready?"

"We'll be out in just a moment." Zane replied, not looking away from Kyra's face.

Their vibrantly red gazes were locked together for what seemed like an eternity before Kyra moved to return her circlet to its proper place. "Remember that you're going to have to guide me," she warned once her vision was blocked again.

He squeezed her hand reassuringly. "Don't worry. I'll be your eyes."

"Then let's go unite these two enemies, shall we?" Kyra flashed him a cocky grin before allowing the cobra to lead her out of the room to the site of the ceremony.


	7. Chapter 7

To say that the next several minutes were stressful would be an astounding understatement. Even as they were entering the hall where the ceremony was taking place, several Serpiente people felt it necessary to reach out and touch the out-of-place eagle. Kyra was fighting her every urge not to jerk away violently. There was not a person in the hall that did not know  _who_  she was, meaning that they knew exactly what level of physical contact she was used to, yet they insisted on touching her almost constantly as they walked to the dais.

The fact that she couldn't see the little touches coming only made the situation that much worse.

Kyra's only source of solace throughout the trek was the cobra at her side. She could feel Zane tense every time he became aware of someone new touching her. The eagle was almost certain that he was glaring at the crowd a bit to help reduce the number of people trying to get in contact with their soon-to-be queen.

By the time they reached the raised platform, Kyra was two more touches shy of ripping her circlet off and fixing her famous—among her old, avian guards—glare on the room at large. Thankfully, though, she held onto her Avian reserve—what little was left after that initial endeavor, anyway—and managed to keep her calm façade.

She was acutely aware of Zane's presence as he maneuvered her into position for the actual ceremony. A little squeeze of his hand was the signal that told her that they were about to be bound together . . . forever . . . as mates and monarchs.


	8. Chapter 8

"As I'm sure you've all heard by now," Zane started, voice clear as he spoke, "the Mistari leaders proposed an idea that would bring us peace in this never-ending war: a marriage between the two royal families."

Kyra was suddenly deafened by the crowd's collective protests at this notion. She could feel the muscles in Zane's torso flex through the arm she had around his waist as he presumably held up a hand to call for silence once more.

"I agreed to this arrangement because I am tired of losing my family in a war that we can't even remember why we're fighting it. As you know, my  _people_  are also my family, and we've lost enough. The Tuuli Thea was kind enough to accept this proposal as well, allowing her oldest daughter to be the joining link between us."

Kyra's teeth were grinding in her head at him making her mother sound like a good person for volunteering her for what could've been a death mission, but she understood that that was the only way his people were going to accept this union.

"From today forward, Kyra Shardae is my Naga," Zane finished, squeezing her slightly in reassurance.

"Sir, you cannot be serious!" a random voice called from the crowd. "She is a hawk; she knows nothing of our people."

"She will learn in time," Zane answered smoothly.

"Of course  _they_  would offer their crippled princess to make peace," a different voice shouted. "They don't think we deserve a strong leader. How do you know they didn't just want to be rid of her and put this weakness in our kind?"

The cobra's muscles were abruptly pulled taut as he fought the desire to lash out at the civilian. Instead, Kyra acted for him by throwing a knife at the man—who'd been standing near a wall—so that it embedded itself in the wall only a few inches above his head.

"I may be blind, but I am far from crippled," she snarled. "I've been trained to use my ears as my eyes, so I could tell  _exactly_  where you are."

The man wisely kept silent after that. Zane was amused to note that the look of fear in his eyes remained there long after Kyra finished speaking to him. His attention was pulled back to the woman at his side, however, when she turned to address the crowd around them.

"I am fully aware of the differences in our kinds, but I am willing to learn your ways if it means ending this suffering. My mother is not known as the most giving woman, and I can't guarantee that volunteering me for this union wasn't in part due to her wanting to be rid of me. But I can assure you that despite that, I am willing to do everything in my power to bring peace between our people. Just look at me. Between my pale skin and dark hair, traits that are obviously Serpiente in origin, it is obvious that we have lived equally in the past. If I have any say in the matter, we will have that peace again for there is much our peoples could learn from one another."

Zane didn't even bother to hide the broad smile that slid across his face by the time she finished speaking. She was so much more than he ever could have hoped for when he first laid eyes on her in the Mistari lands. A rustling in the crowd called his attention back to the room at large. Many of the people had started to kneel at her words, accepting her as their Naga, until only a handful remained standing. He was surprised to see that an acquaintance of his was among those who remained standing.

"Kendrick?" he asked, raising a brow.

"Sir, I cannot stand aside and let you throw away your happiness for this  _hawk_ ," Kendrick spat the word. "She will never be right for you! You will never love her. She's a  _Shardae_."

"Yes, she is," Zane confirmed, "but I have learned that even these Avians are not what they appear to be." He turned so that he was facing Kyra, much to her confusion at the abrupt movement. He allowed his lips to move close enough to hers that she could feel his breath when he spoke so she would know his intentions. "May I?" he whispered.

A tiny nod was her response before he pressed their lips together in a simple press that was nothing compared to the one they'd shared in bed a few hours before.

When they parted, Zane was pleased to see that that action had been enough to silence the remaining protests of his— _their—_ people. Kendrick and the other remaining protestors knelt slowly, grudgingly accepting the woman as their new Naga. He smiled and squeezed Kyra's waist once more.

"Welcome to your people," he muttered in her ear, grin firmly on his face as he started leading her down the stairs off the platform.

Kyra could only offer a slightly strained smile in return as she fought to keep her reserve in place to hide her panic about being around so many people once more.

 


	9. Chapter 9

Zane was impressed at how his new Naga was handling the crowd as they mingled with his— _their_ —people. He could feel the tension in her body through the arm he had around her waist, but on the outside she seemed to be relaxed. There was definitely chaos and panic in her head, but she didn't allow the people to see it. She obviously wanted to come across as a strong leader and not a scared little pigeon caught in a den of snakes; she didn't want to seem like a liability rather than a ruler. That was a trait he couldn't help but admire since he, himself, wasn't sure how he was going to be able to stand the Avian version of their wedding they were going to have to endure as well.

That particular ceremony shouldn't be as much of a stress in the way that she wasn't going to be crowned as ruler in that one, instead holding the stress that many of her people and family hated her. Not that he understood that hatred, mind.

Meanwhile, in Kyra's mind, she was screaming.

Never before had she had this many people trying to get close enough to touch her, and it was all she could do not to just shift and fly away from this plethora of cool bodies. But she would be damned if she shamed her Avian heritage by running away despite how much that exact heritage seemed to hate her very existence.

Kyra couldn't help but appreciate, however, that the Serpiente that had already accepted her as their new Naga completely didn't treat her like an abomination. Though she couldn't  _see_ them, she could hear the respect in their voices as they addressed her and her new mate. They might not know that, yet she was of hawk decent, she wasn't a hawk, but not being treated like a freak was a breath of fresh air to her that she didn't know she needed. Zane was a gust of wind in his acceptance of her strangeness and these people were a tornado.

The only problem was that with every controversial action, there were always those who strongly disagreed and would act on impulse to stop it.

This action came in the form of a knife aimed directly for Kyra's sternum wielded by a man who feigned that respect that Kyra so cherished in order to get close to the new rulers.

Before the crowd could even realize what was going on, the situation was over.

Zane was still processing the events that had just taken place when Kyra shouted for one of the guards.

In the time it had taken for the man to unsheathe his chosen weapon, Kyra had had enough time to pinpoint precisely exactly where the familiar sound of a blade being readied was coming from. In an instant, she had turned to face the man—leaving Zane's protective hold in the process—and seemed to stare at him as he approached despite the golden band that shielded her eyes from the world. One of her hands lashed out with viper-like speed to knock the blade to the side. She didn't strike hard enough that the blade would go flying into the crowd since she didn't want to risk innocents' safety.

The fingernails of her other hand sharpened into the talons of her eagle form as she wrapped those very fingers around his throat, points digging dangerously into the skin there. The assailant dropped the blade he'd been wielding in shock at how quickly the tides had turned against him. He'd expected to at least be able to kill her before being neutralized by his king.

"You've made a grave error in judgment, sir," Kyra whispered directly into the man's ear when she leaned forward threateningly. "I was trained with the very guards that protect my mother. I'm not just another Avian princess. I'm a soldier." That was all she said before she leaned back and shouted for the guards.

The man was roughly shoved into the arms of a pit viper guard with icy eyes that Zane didn't recognize and dragged away.

"And I think that is enough excitement for this evening. Good night," he bid quickly before firmly leading Kyra back to their shared suite.

"Can I ask what just happened?" he finally managed once she pulled off the circlet that protected her eyes from the world.

She shrugged. "As I told him, I trained with the palace guard; I'm not an easy target. There was a threat; I handled it."

Zane couldn't help but laugh as he pulled Kyra into his arms for a tight hug. "You. Are.  _Amazing_."

"Why thank you," she smirked with a small, sarcastic curtsy. "You're not so bad yourself, mister crowd-pleaser."

"You realize this means that a) you've lost some of your element of surprise and b) that we are going to have to spar sometime so I can see just how good you are."

"I think the whole people-thinking-I'm-blind-thing is still a major advantage," Kyra pointed out. "And you are so on."

The couple shared a quiet laugh for a few minutes before they were interrupted once again by a knock on the door followed by Charis' voice saying, "Since the two of you are having a such a great time, mind if I barge in to ask Kyra a few questions?"

"Of course not, mother. Come in," was Zane's grinning response.

 


	10. Chapter 10

Moments before, Charis had overheard some of their conversation as she approached the door where they had retreated after the little incident that'd just occurred. It seemed this little Avian was determined to prove everything the cobra had thought about her people to be completely the opposite. Just listening to the banter between her son and his . . . Gods, his  _wife_  now, was enough to make her soul soar like the bird Kyra was at the thought of Zane being like  _this_  for the rest of his life when he'd been somber and angry for all of his life.

Unfortunately, however, she had to force herself to break the moment between the couple and knock on the door. Upon entering, she jolted in surprise when Kyra was looking at her with a pair of eyes red enough to rival Zane's very own Cobriana garnet. "What . . . Kyra?"

Those eyes that were doing such a wonderful job of confusing the former Naga widened comically as the Avian seemed to realize what Charis was asking about. "Um . . ."

Zane looked almost as panicked as his Mate. "Mother, there is something you need to know."

After a somewhat frantic explanation of why, exactly, Kyra was not blind as she claimed, Charis was nodding in understanding. "Don't worry, child. Your secrets are yours to keep so long as they do not harm  _our_  people."

"Thank you, Charis," Kyra breathed. Her stoic exterior was returning of its own accord not that she knew how the elder cobra was going to react.

"What did you need to ask, Mother?" Zane asked. It slightly stung that she was hiding herself from him like she'd said she wouldn't, but the larger part of him understood that it was merely habit.

"Several things that can wait due to . . . recent information . . . but the most important thing is are you okay? Both of you."

Zane smiled at his mother's concern for the woman who's started worming into his heart so easily. "We're fine; I promise. Kyra is apparently more that capable of taking care of herself even without using her eyes."

"Is this true?" Charis asked, turning to the girl herself.

"Yeah," Kyra smiled almost unperceivably. "What else did you need?"

"I wanted to remind the two of you to make sure you get some rest because you're expected to arrive at the Keep tomorrow." When both new monarchs looked confused, Charis sighed. "Did you honestly forget? You are being wed in both of your kinds' traditions as a symbol of acceptance on both people's parts. The ceremony is the day after tomorrow over there."

Kyra groaned when she realized that meant that she would have to deal with the hatred of her mother again. "Then I definitely need sleep; I can't handle her when tired without wanting to stab her with my talons."

"I won't let her do anything to you, Kyra," Zane promised, kissing the side of her head reflexively. That tiny action earned minute amounts of tension to radiate from the eagle that alerted him of the forwardness of that action in a public setting. He apologized with his expression as he continued, "She wouldn't dare say something in front of me and risk giving up this peace."

"The problem is that you will not always be by my side, Zane. It is not customary for Avians to share beds very often, even when they are bonded," Kyra informed him.

"We will figure out something on the journey there, then. It will be fine."

Charis smiled once more at the pair before sweeping her arms wide. "Well, in that case it's off to bed with both of you. I had something taken to both of your rooms for dinner, and after that straight to bed with both of you!"

"Yes, mother," Zane laughed before taking Kyra's hand and leading her towards their suite. "She really does like you, you know," he whispered close to her ear. They were back in the roles of the leaders they'd played in the crowd earlier in case someone ran into them on the way to the inner parts of the palace since it was a public area until the part where the family itself resided.

"That is actually quite reassuring since I was kind of worried about that," Kyra smiled openly again since it was just the two of them.

Upon reaching the room they'd shared previously, the unspoken decision went through the couple to share the space for another night, neither wanting to be alone. Kyra was pleased to notice that, while meat was included in the food left on the table for them, poultry was not on the menu. She was quite happy to be able to enjoy some well-cooked meat since she'd never fully understood how a society with its leaders as carnivorous birds didn't eat meat. But, given her own strange animal form, it wasn't surprising that the eagle differed from the norm once more.

Not many words were spoken as they enjoyed the meal and dressed for bed, but small smiles were an almost constant occurrence in their place. It wasn't until she was safely nestled in the cobra's arms that Kyra actually spoke up again.

"I'm glad it was you my mother forced me to marry," she whispered.

"As am I, only there was no forcing on my part," he murmured his reply. "Once we are at the Keep, you still need to show me your form."

"Oh?" Kyra replied teasingly. "Only if you show me yours."

"It's a date then," Zane grinned. The eagle couldn't see it from her positon, but she  _knew_  it was there.

"We will have to do it while in our room there—because I'll be damned if my mother keeps me apart from someone I care about," she'd decided to be defiant to the woman during the course of their quiet dinner. "I am certain that the rule prohibiting people from seeing my second form is still in place. Plus, I really don't want to be pointed at more than we're obviously going to be." After saying that, she quieted, seemingly lost in thought about all the ways people had judged her without knowing her for years.

Zane leaned forward to kiss the top of her head, not caring if it was still inappropriate by the standards in which she was raised. "Stop thinking, Kyra. Get some sleep."

She only nodded and wiggled lower into the plushy bed. His hands carded though her hair gently, lulling her to sleep.


	11. Chapter 11

Naturally, the next morning when Kyra was rudely awoken by Adelina banging on the door  _again_ , she was remarkably less than pleased. She somehow managed to resist the urge to throw her circlet—which was resting on the nightstand this time—like a knife at the door just to see if she could get it to go through the wood and hit the blonde. As she was reaching for it—only to contemplate the impulse, she defended internally—Zane snagged her wrist in his surprisingly warm hand.

"Whatever you're thinking about doing to her,  _don't_ ," he said sternly, but not cruelly. "She is still one of my best guards even if she doesn't particularly like you."

"There  _has_  to be a better way for her to come get us than  _this_ ," Kyra argued.

"I will speak to her when we return from the Keep, then," he compromised. Those ruby eye pleading to hers not to cause problems with his former lover.

Yes, Kyra had figured out that little fact. Despite the fact that Avians were  _extremely_  emotionally constipated. The eagle was rather observant. In the little time she'd been around Zane and Adelina, she'd noticed the way they interacted. After that it was no big feat to piece together the information.

"Thank you," Kyra said finally.

The persistent knocking resumed, except twice the volume it'd been before. "Zane! You and the bird are going to be late if you don't leave within the hour!"

Kyra saw the flash of anger that crossed Zane's face at the way Adelina addressed her. She thought she also saw his pupils change into the slits of his other form, but she couldn't be sure since he looked away quickly. The thought that he was scared of how she would react if she saw his half-form crossed her mind.

Just before he opened the door to presumably discipline the guard—and therefore making Kyra have to close her eyes to keep her secret—Zane inhaled through his mouth. This time the eagle was sure when she noticed the fangs hiding there when he inhaled. From then, she could only listen to him speak sternly to Adelina.

Kyra heard the other woman gasp when she saw her king's half-form. Little did the eagle know, but Zane  _rarely_  had his animal form drawn out by his emotions. Seeing him in such a state was a little more than just surprising.

"Adelina, you will take care of how you address Kyra and myself. Informality and rudeness on your part will no longer be tolerated. When we return from Kyra's homeland, your brother will take your place as Captain of my guard, and you will no longer be the one to retrieve  _either_  Kyra or myself from here. Go ready the horses; we will be there shortly," he dismissed before closing the door. A sigh escaped the cobra once Adelina's footsteps faded away.

Kyra carefully climbed out of the bed to approach her mate. "Zane?" she asked quietly, reaching forward to touch his shoulder.

He let out a tiny hiss of surprise when she made contact, his fangs bared to her of their own accord. It only took an instant for him to relax once he realized who it was. The snake-like features retreated quickly back into human ones.

"I'm sorry if I startled you," Zane murmured.

"Shouldn't I be saying that?" Kyra teased in an attempt to lighten the mood. " _I'm_  the one that startled  _you_ , after all."

"I meant startling you with my fangs," he clarified. "I don't want you to think I'd ever hurt you."

Kyra trailed her hand down his arm to reach his hand so she could squeeze it reassuringly. "Zane, it is what you are, and I know you won't hurt me. You've had plenty of chances already. Your snake features are a little weird to me, yes, but no more so than my Avian ones are to you."

"It's just that mine are a bit more violent than yours are. If I were to reflexively bite you if you startled me when I'm like that, it would most likely kill you."

"I know that, Zane. Don't forget that eagles naturally hunt snakes. Grabbing that man by the throat yesterday was instinct in addition to training. I could've easily accidentally killed if I wasn't trained. It's not just you. Stop worrying so much."

There was a pause before he nodded. "Okay, I get it; I'm thinking too much. You were going to see me like that eventually. We  _are_  mated, after all."

" _Exactly,_  now get dressed." Kyra hesitated, wanting to say something but her Avian brain-mouth filter stopped her.

"You promised . . ." Zane reminded her gently of her decision to rid herself of the Avian reserve.

Kyra nodded. "As great as you look without your shirt, I'm afraid it would cause quite a stir at the Keep."

He looked shocked momentarily until he broke down into laughter. "Always speak your mind," he pleaded through the giggles. "Don't hide your real personality because it's been years since someone made me laugh like this."

A grin crept onto Kyra's face. Impulsively, as soon as he regained partial control of himself, she leaned forward and kissed him. Zane was obviously surprised by her boldness, but he quickly returned the gesture instead of just standing there. The kiss they shared was one of those that wasn't heated at all and it was awkward because they kept having to part because they were simply smiling too much, but at the same time it was absolutely perfect.

When they finally parted to actually  _end_  the kiss, Zane rested his forehead against hers. Kyra noticed that they each had a hand in the other's hair to pull them closer, but his was brushing her feathers and he didn't even notice. Her response to that realization was to place a kiss to the tip of his nose.

"You might have to watch out, Kyra," he warned her without opening his eyes.

Kyra took the opportunity to study his features closely while responding, "Why is that?"

"I might be getting rather fond of you," he warned.

"That's a good thing, because I don't just kiss guys I don't like," she replied.

It truly was amazing just how much this man had managed to make her open up even though they'd only known each other for a matter of days. She knew deep down how easy it would be for her to fall for him completely if she hadn't been made tentative by her heritage.

Their mouths were drifting closer together if they were magnetized. It wasn't until their lips were just barely touching that Zane halted, looking tense with the effort.

"We need to get dressed and go," he managed to say. "Your family will be waiting."

It was Kyra that actually forced to leave his embrace. "You're right."

No more words were spoken as the couple. They had to stay as far apart as they could so they didn't end up in the other's arms again.

 


	12. Chapter 12

As it turned out, they did not have to share a horse again—not that Kyra had partially wished they would or anything. Also, the Diente and Naga of the Serpiente would be traveling alone with Charis staying behind to act in their place. This was decided as an attempt to provoke as little of the Avian people's wrath by bringing snakes into their home as possible.

It was unlikely that Nacola had informed the public who  _exactly_  she'd forced her eldest daughter to marry since what had taken place at the Mistari palace was supposed to have been top secret. Many probably assumed that Kyra had been essentially sold off to some noble's eldest son in the name of peace. Since Zane was such a feared character in Avian mythology, none would think their Tuuli Thea capable of giving away Kyra's hand to him. None would expect to see their heir—since they wouldn't know Zane had taken his parents' throne now—of the Cobriana line in the Hawk's Keep.

"Kyra?" Zane called.

Snapping out of her thoughts, the eagle realized that she'd slowed down the pace of her horse while lost in her mind. "Yeah?"

"Are you alright?" he asked as she brought her horse back up next to his.

"Yeah, just thinking about how people are going to react to you," she explained. "They already don't like me, but they have to respect me because of who I am. You . . . I doubt they're going to like you being there."

"I can try to dress more to your people's customs if—"

" _No,_ " Kyra interrupted bluntly. "This whole thing is about acceptance and putting this damned war behind us. Forcing you to conform to please them is completely counterproductive to that."

He nodded in understanding. "I know that, but if you are worried—"

She cut him off again. "No, Zane. I  _am_  worried but this is too important. If anything,  _I_  will dress like  _your_  people—"

"Our people," he corrected with a smirk.

Kyra sighed a short chuckle. " _Our_  people. If anything, I will dress like our people to symbolize acceptance."

"Just one problem with that, Kyra. Well, actually two problems. If your do that, it will look like I've forced you to conform to us, and with your looks . . . Don't take this badly, because it is nothing but a compliment coming from me, you look like one of us."

"That  _is_  a compliment to me, Zane, especially given my history with my own people," Kyra assured him. "But you are right. Perhaps the best way to make this point would be for us to switch styles. I'll wear clothes of Serpiente design while you do the same with Avian."

"This should be rather interesting, then."

The sight of the weak smile he was flashing her—yes,  _sight,_  she'd taken off that damned circlet as soon as they'd been out of sight of the perimeter guards—made her return the gesture. They'd barely had any time to act fully since the strange armistice they'd formed, and yet they were already plotting ways to get the people to accept the other culture, something neither red-eyed shapeshifter had  _ever_  thought they'd live to see.

The moment of realization was broken, however, when Kyra's eagle-sharp eyesight honed in on the horses approaching them from directly ahead. "Zane, time to tether my horse to yours. The Royal Flight is approaching to escort us the rest of the way."

The slightly pained look on his face as she covered her eyes once more did not escape her notice. Sadly, Kyra could do nothing to soothe him since the Flight was about to reach them.

Right on cue, a male voice shouted, "Who approaches?"

"Kyra Shardae and Zane Cobriana!" Kyra replied strongly. "Rei, is that you?" she asked after a few moments to allow them to get within normal speaking range.

"Yeah, Dany wanted me to come get you two myself. Sir," he greeted Zane respectfully. He may have been a prime example of Avian culture, but he knew to be respectful to the Diente. He'd actually been one of the few that'd always been kind to Kyra, too, just like how Danica had been the only sibling that actually  _liked_  her. "If the two of you will follow me, I'll escort you through a backway to keep everyone quiet tonight."

"Thank you," Zane said politely.

"If it's not too personal of me to ask," Rei started, "how have you been since Nacola made us leave you in Mistari lands?"

"It's fine, Rei. I've actually been . . . really good since getting away from here. The Serpiente people are  _so_  interesting."

Zane smiled at her tone because Kyra was openly showing emotion without thinking about it for once. Rei, on the other hand, looked rather surprised at the development. It seemed that only a few days in the den of snakes was enough to get her to open up.

"It hasn't hurt that Zane is such a good man. So different than the myths described him."

"Thank you, Kyra," the cobra breathed. "I've been trying to make sure she feels at home," he explained to Rei. "It was my idea to have the peace talks, so I want to make sure they work."

" _Good_ ," Rei emphasized. "I wish Nacola hadn't gone about it the way she did, but if you make her happy and this war stays ended, I am glad. She deserves more than being locked away. Maybe you guys could even find out more about her bloodline."

"Rei, you're using my interests against me, and I don't appreciate it," Kyra complained.

Zane smirked. "The palace  _does_  have a rather extensive history of our kinds . . ." he mused. "They might have something."

"Both of you suck," Kyra grumbled.

The cobra openly laughed while Rei wore a mildly amused expression, not that the eagle could see it. She had to smile at the sound, at the very least.

" _This_  is what it's supposed to be like," she announced. "Forget war and hatred. We're having a normal conversation with a man who was the boogeyman all of our lives, an upstanding Avian citizen, and the outcast freak of the royal family."

"Hopefully this will be the norm soon," Zane breathed. "I am tired of watching people die for reasons we can't even remember."

"It will be," shockingly, it was Rei who promised this. "Even if I have to commit treason," which was a rather surprising proclamation for someone such as him, "I will do anything I can to keep this peace."

They'd reached the tall building that was the Hawk's Keep, and were now climbing the servants' stairs to Kyra's old suite. They took this route for a couple reasons: Zane couldn't bloody well fly, and Kyra's true second form was still a secret from the general public.

After some quick farewells to their escort at the door to Kyra's room—since it would've been wildly inappropriate by Avian standards for an unmated man to enter the suite of a mated woman—the royal couple was left alone to fend for themselves. Once more, they were informed that there had been food left for them inside. This time, they were also informed that neither was supposed to leave the suite until morning to keep what could easily turn into panic from the Avian populous to a minimum.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: I'm thinking about adding a couple chapters at the beginning of this story that takes place before the meeting at the Mistari palace that'll show Kyra interacting with her family and stuff. What do you guys think?


	13. Chapter 13

Zane rounded on her once the door to the hallway was closed behind them. “So, what about this second form of yours that I’ve heard so much about?” he asked with a grin.

Naturally, Kyra’s automatic response to the teasing tone was a roll of her eyes. “What about yours?” she echoed his teasing. “But I think it might be a better idea to do demi forms first.”

A simple nod of his head was his answer before the cobra locked eyes with her. It was then that she finally actually felt the effects of the cobra’s eyes being able to hypnotize onlookers as they became slightly brighter in color and the pupils reformed as slits. His mouth parted slightly—as was common in full-blooded snakes when they used their sixth-sense of seeing heat—allowing her to see the sharp fangs there. Only a few moments later, dark snakeskin rippled into being across his normally pale, human skin. It surprised Kyra that the scales didn’t look odd to her; they looked as natural as his human skin somehow.

Zane squirmed moderately under her curious gaze as if uncomfortable. Now, _that_ looked unnatural to the eagle—enough so to snap her out of the effect of his hypnosis. She’d seen how still Zane could be if he really wanted to. It was truly ominous, the way he could simply stop moving except for the slowed rise and fall of his chest that signified that he was breathing. It was almost the calm before the storm effect. She supposed it was kind of cute, the way he seemed to care about what she thought so much that it would make such a normally graceful creature vaguely awkward.

“Well?” he asked quietly.

“Stunning,” Kyra assured him. It seemed to completely startle the poor cobra whenever she leaned forward to kiss him. Her curious tongue probed his mouth for a moment before finding what it sought. Gently, she traced the sharp point of one of his fangs before retreating to find that his pupils were wide with what she could only define as desire.

“I’ve never kissed someone while in this form,” he admitted at her confused, questioning expression. “The feeling is a little overwhelming.” Though, it was quite a relief to him that she didn’t mind touching him in his demi-form, let alone kissing him.

“Ah. Let me guess, it’s my turn?” Kyra asked.

Zane’s answering nod was accompanied by the snake-like characteristics dissolving back into his human ones once more. Stillness overtook him once again as he waited for her to take her turn.

“One thing before I do, though,” she said quickly before actually shifting. “While it isn’t uncommon for my people to walk around in their demi-form, it is wildly inappropriate for one who isn’t mated to a person to touch their wings. Even alistairs aren’t supposed to touch them. It’s a highly personal, intimate act for someone to be allowed to.”

“Okay,” he said in understanding. “I won’t touch.”

Kyra chuckled a little. “No, Zane, you misunderstand me. You take my warning as me telling you you’re not allowed, but you are. I was just informing you how big a deal it is to my people.”

His eyes widened. “But why . . .?”

“Because you are my mate, and you mean so much to me already,” she answered simply.

Then it was his turn to be amazed as she turned so that her back was facing him and shifted into her demi-form. A pair of large, black wings formed where her shoulder blades were as he watched. They were obviously the wings of a predator judging from the shape alone; they were obviously designed for strength and speed, much different than the wings of crows he’d seen on the battlefield. Looking more closely, Zane could see tinges of purple striking through some of the feathers. This caused him to wonder if the feathers at the nape of her neck—that he’d only ever felt not seen—had the same odd coloring.

From what he’d heard from Eleanor, the wings seemed to be larger than the rest of her family’s demi-forms, too.

His hand reached out almost of its own accord to touch the stiff-looking feathers. Kyra jumped slightly when she felt those cool fingers skim against the top of one of her wings. She didn’t know if it was because he was her mate or something else entirely, but it seemed that she was hyper-aware and sensitive to the touch, whimpering slightly in the back of her throat when he lightly carded his fingers through the feathers.

Zane jerked his hand away quickly at the sound. “Are you okay? Did that hurt?” he asked worriedly.

Kyra shook her head quickly. “No, it’s just like you said. Never really had anyone do that before. I didn’t expect it to feel like that.”

He gave an awkwardly relieved chuckle at the news. “Oh, I was worried there for a second.” Without even thinking about it, he fluidly moved around to stand in front of her and pulled her into a sweet kiss. His hands threaded into her hair and feather gently to bring her closer. “You are amazing,” Zane whispered when she pulled away slightly with a shiver.

It was incredible just how intimate the entire exchange of forms had turned out to be, and they hadn’t even shown their full secondary forms yet.

“You first,” Kyra murmured against his lips as her wings receded back into nonexistence.

Zane nodded as he backed away. “Just be careful if you pick me up. According to my sister, I tend to be kind of testy.”

Again, as she watched, Zane’s body simply _changed_ in a way that was so familiar but also so alien to her. She’d seen her own kind shift thousands of times, but there was something different about him shifting into a form that was so vastly opposite to the birds she was so acquainted with.

Then, sitting before her instead of the attractive man she’d grown to like—they hadn’t known one another _nearly_ long enough for something as strong as love, Kyra’s mind quickly made clear—was the form of a large King Cobra. Since he was coiled up, it was impossible to say how long his body now was, but he was easily half her height in the part of his body that was vertical to allow her a better look at him.

He was jet black in overall color with faint bands of pale yellow down the length of his body; his belly scales were this same shade of yellow. While more common species of cobra had the distinctive eyespots on the backs of their hoods, Kyra could see that his simply remained black with those same bands through it. Looking at him in this form, Kyra could understand why his family was so feared by Avians. He was rather intimidating even to someone that knew he would never harm her.

Slowly, Kyra held out a hand with the palm perpendicular to the floor, indicating that she was going to touch him if he allowed it. Zane seemed to take the initiative by relaxing his hood and carefully running the side of his head along her hand. Taking that for the invitation it was, she ran a few fingers down the length of his head. The skin was surprisingly smooth to the touch.

He flicked his tongue against her hand, causing her to laugh a little at the tickling feeling before unwinding enough that he could move away. Moments later, the man had returned to his human form and was sitting cross-legged in front of her.

“You are a big-ass snake,” she informed him with a wide grin.

The absurdity of that statement broke Zane’s nervous silence and had him laughing. “Around twelve feet long, actually. Used to annoy Anjay that I was scarier than him,” the laughter ceased with that memory. Kyra then remembered that Irene was the only other Cobriana to have survived the war outside of Zane and their mother. “He was only ten feet, and I passed that when I was thirteen.”

Without hesitating, Kyra reached out to squeeze his hand. “We’ll trade family stories another time, Zane. It won’t help us to focus on the past right now.”

He nodded, grateful for the little gesture of support. “I know.” It took a moment longer to push the memories out of his mind, but he managed somehow. “I believe it is your turn.”

Unlike Kyra, Zane had actually become quite familiar with how it looked when birds shifted forms because of his time on the battlefield. When she was finished shifting, however, he was genuinely surprised at the sheer size of the bird in front of him. He’d known that eagles were much larger than their hawk cousins, but this was amazing.

Kyra looked exactly like golden eagles he’d seen in the wild before, but it looked as if her feathers had been dipped in black ink. The color was quite beautiful in its unique way. The purple he’d seen splashed across her demi-form’s wings were present throughout the inky feathers.

When she’d said she was a black eagle, he’d expected the species he’d known as a black eagle that had white feathers on some parts of its body and face. Her features were entirely black—beak, feet, and face. The only color that stood out in the blackness was the purple accenting her feathers and the familiar red eyes that were gazing back at him.

She ducked her head as if nervous when Zane reached out to pet her head in a similar fashion to what she did earlier. The texture that greeted him was not what he expected. He’d expected stiff feathers to greet him like her wings had been, but the ones on her head were rather soft to the touch.

This was allowed for a few minutes until she decided to flap a couple of times and hopped away so she could shift back into her human form.

“Judging from what I’ve seen of your family’s second forms,” Zane said once she was sitting in front of him in her human form, “it is not surprising that Nacola fears you. You could easily take them down based on size alone. If she had bothered to look past that, though, she would understand that you would never do such a thing to the people you hold dear.”

Kyra couldn’t help but give a melancholy laugh at that. “You seem to know me so well after such a short time, and no one but Danica and Rei ever tried before I met you. You are correct, though. If my mother had cared about me in the slightest, I never would have done _anything_ to prevent harm coming to her, but as it is . . . She would be lucky if I didn’t lend an assassin the knife should anyone feel so inclined as to try to kill her.”

Zane’s had reached out of its own accord to rest on top of hers. “Do not speak such falsehoods, Kyra. She may have wronged you in the worst way a mother can, but she is still your mother. Someone like you could never directly wish ill on her.”

A deep sigh left her. “I know,” she admitted. “But that doesn’t stop it from hurting every time she looks at me like I’m a monster.”

That prompted the cobra’s hand to squeeze hers in a gesture of solidarity. “After tomorrow when we are bonded in the eyes of your people and once Danica takes over for your mother it will not matter. You will not be forced to come into contact with her again unless you wish. She will be able to hold nothing over you since she will not have power. I’m sure if Danica agrees—which she probably would based off what you’ve told me—the ban on you revealing your second form would be removed.”

Kyra’s brow furrowed into a thoughtful expression. “That . . . is actually an incredible idea, Zane.”

“I’ve been known to have them occasionally,” he smirked, trying to lighten the mood.

“No, seriously, I’m going to go talk to Dani about it, like, now. I’ve hidden in the shadows for too damn long as it is.”

“I would not have suggested it if I expected any less. Go, talk to your sister. Sleep is calling my name, so I’ll see you when you return since I’m assuming we’re still going to forgo that pesky Avian custom of never really sharing a bed you told me about.”

That earned a quiet chortle from the eagle. “Of course, Zane. I have no desire to start having nightmares again without you there; it is an amazing luxury to have someone to chase them away for me.” With that, Kyra shifted forms once more.

Zane watched in muted awe as she hopped over to the window before spreading those magnificent wings and taking flight. He couldn’t imagine what it was like for her to have such an ability as flight and having to restrain herself from using it because of some stupid decree of her mother’s. It was bad enough for him when he’d been a kid and being grounded from shifting for some stupid prank or another he’d managed to pull on Anjay.

He shook his head in a physical attempt to free himself of the memory. Now was still not the time to recall the things he’d lost to this stupid war, not after they were so close to ending it officially. He sighed as he retreated to the bed.

Upon undressing enough so that he was comfortable and crawling in, he discovered that Avian beds were nowhere near as luxurious or comfortable as the ones he was used to sleeping on when not on the battlefield. Zane had the sinking feeling that neither Kyra nor he would be getting much sleep before the ceremony the next day.

Meanwhile, Kyra’s first flight in weeks ended much too quickly for her tastes as she landed on the rail of Danica’s balcony. She let out a quiet cry to call her sister’s attention while she sat there. Needless to say, the hawk was surprised to see a familiar inky eagle sitting outside her door and quickly opened the door.

“Kyra? What’re you doing here? I hadn’t expected to see you until tomorrow morning!”


	14. Chapter 14

The transition from eagle sitting on the railing to human leaning casually against it was a surprisingly smooth one for Kyra. “What? Your big sister isn’t allowed to drop in and say hi?” she teased.

Danica rolled her eyes and tackled her sister in a tight hug. “I’m so happy to see you!” she beamed. Even after all this time, it was still slightly odd to see how different Danica could be when she actually dropped the Avian reserve since she went emotionless 99% of the time. “Are you alright? Are they treating you well? They’re not neglecting you are they?”

“Dani! Calm down,” Kyra laughed, breaking her sister’s frantic string of questions. “I’m fine. I’ll tell you about it inside.”

“Oh, right. Come on in.”

Once they were sitting cross-legged facing each other on the hawk’s bed Kyra spoke again, “Now, to answer questions I’m fine. Never been happier, actually. They’re not the cold-blooded monsters we were raised to believe in. The Serpiente are actually wonderful people who are surprisingly accepting once they knew that Zane wasn’t going to be terribly unhappy with me as his Naga. They marry for love, as it turns out, so many were going to be rather unaccepting of me at first. That is, until Zane showed that he’s not miserable around me.”

“Really? Good. I was worried they might treat you poorly or some such nonsense.” Danica breathed.

Kyra shook her head. “No, they wanted this peace as much as you and I. Zane, especially, has been amazingly accepting.”

“And how _are_ things going with him?”

“Better than I could’ve dreamed. I told him everything, Danica, and he doesn’t care. The way I was treated here angers him, and he’s grown very protective.”

“Does he know you can take care of yourself?”

“Yes, there was an assassination attempt, actually, during the ceremony to name me his Naga. Don’t worry, I put a stop to it before anything could happen, but there is _some_ discontent among the people. I can’t guarantee something like that won’t happen again . . . from either side. Since I’m the outcast that’s been married off to the enemy, I’m an easy target to anyone who doesn’t know what I can do.”

“Valid point. I’ll tell Rei and his men to be on their guard tomorrow just in case.” Danica stated. “If it’s not too bold of me, it seems like you feel rather . . . _strongly_ . . . for him.”

Kyra blinked in surprise, recoiling slightly away from her sister. She’d been avoiding thinking about what, exactly, she was feeling for the cobra that was resting only a floor below them now. Due to her upbringing, she didn’t handle emotions very well, much less ones for a man she’d been raised to fear.

Her thoughts flashed back to the only time she’d seen him before the meeting in the Mistari lands. She’d been flying away from Gregory Cobriana’s body and she’d glanced back to see who, exactly, had come to retrieve him. Imagine her surprise when it’d been Zane, himself. The anguished shout he’d given and the look of despair in his eyes had haunted her dreams for weeks afterwards. Kyra’s heart, now that she thought about it, had started growing soft for the man back then upon realizing how strongly he loved his family. After all, someone who cared for his little brother _that_ much couldn’t be all bad.

Since being given away to him, everything Zane had done had only succeeded in making Kyra care for him more and more. She knew that she was beginning to love the man even though that was a bit of a foreign concept to her, not that she would tell him that yet.

“Kyra? Are you okay?” Danica asked worriedly. “You don’t have to answer that.”

“I’m fine, just realizing a couple things. But to answer your prompting, I do feel strongly for him. I’m beginning to love him, actually.”

The idea of loving the cobra was _odd_ to Danica to say the least, but she could see how happy Zane made her sister. There was no way she was going to let anything stand in the way of either them or this peace.

“Good,” she said resolutely. “Now, why did you really come up here tonight?”

“Zane brought something to my attention that couldn’t wait until tomorrow. Tomorrow, when you take our mother’s place as Tuuli Thea, would you see fit to remove the ban on me revealing my second form? This is a time of peace and acceptance, and you don’t have the issues with me that Mother does.”

“Excellent!” Danica beamed. “Of course I will! I can’t believe I didn’t think of it before. Just one thing . . . will you reveal the fact that you can see as well?”

Kyra nodded. “I’ve hidden in shadows for far too long, Dani. Even if I lose my element of surprise I mentioned earlier, I’m tired of pretending to be something I’m not.”

“Why knows? It might even endear you even more to the Serpiente people if you have that much more in common with them. I know of that theory you have that we might be related to them somewhere up the family tree.”

“Perhaps . . . It will, however, make it that much harder to sift out the traitors if they aren’t actively trying to kill me.”

“Ah, but it means you aren’t in as much danger,” Danica pointed out.

“Only blatantly. Who’s to say someone hasn’t created a poison that works on us? What if they were to slip it in my evening meal? It is unlikely that such an assassin could be easily caught.” Kyra countered.

“Let’s just hope that doesn’t happen,” the hawk sighed. “I don’t know about you, but I am in need of sleep. Mother was rather . . . unrelenting today when it came to drilling me on what to do tomorrow. Once I am named Tuuli Thea, I will cue you to tell our people the truth as you see fit.”

The eagle grinned. “Thank you, little sister. Now get some sleep; I’ll see you in the morning right before the ceremonies.”

Barely waiting to see her sister’s wave of farewell, Kyra shifted forms and dove down to her own floor.

 

 


	15. Chapter 15

As she suspected, when Kyra walked into the bedroom that’d been hers until this peace began, Zane was curled up on the bed asleep. Judging from the tenseness written into his features, it was a restless slumber. Kyra supposed it was because he was alone in this cold community after being around people who thrived in touch for his entire life.

Her hypothesis was proven correct when, after she’d changed and joined him, he automatically plastered himself to her side. A fond smile crawled its way onto her face at the sight of his face relaxing into a more normal, peaceful one. For a man that was rumored to be among the most dangerous people in their world, Zane proved to be rather predictable once one got to know him.

Kyra didn’t bother to lay down fully, instead choosing to sit up with her back resting against the headboard. Sleep wasn’t something that would come easy to her that night, she could tell.

It seemed that being in the place that saw so many of the wrongs done to her was a place that would permanently be a trigger for nightmares. She could not help the minute slivers of fear that crept into her mind in the silence that surrounded her. It was almost easy to conjure the image of her mother throwing something at her for taking off the circlet in public when she was a child while she cowered across the room.

This room in particular had housed cruelties from various parties. Guards that’d been assigned to her had never truly cared if someone managed to sneak in to either try to get a closer look at the royal family’s freak or to carry out more sinister desires. It was only natural that Kyra take up training with Rei so that she could protect herself from such intruders.

Assassins had always been fond of testing their abilities on Kyra since they knew the punishment would not be horribly severe like they would be if they attacked someone like Danica. They almost reveled in the challenge of sneaking to the upper floors that housed the hawks and seeing if they could sneak into Kyra’s room to further test themselves.

A light hiss from beside her drew Kyra’s thoughts from the dark past she’d been reminiscing about. She glanced down at her mate to see that he appeared to be having a nightmare judging from the furrow in his brows and the way his mouth was parted just enough to display the fangs of his half-form as he hissed quietly. It seemed that she was not the only one that was having trouble with sleep.

Instinctively, Kyra knew that waking the cobra would likely end in her getting bitten. Since there was no anti-venom in the Hawk’s Keep, that would lead to her dying a slow, painful death.

Instead, Kyra decided to employ a tactic that she’d used on Danica when she was younger and suffered from nightmares. Her fingers started carding through his smooth, black hair in an effort to soothe him. With her other hand, Kyra gently traced the bones of the pale hand that’d placed itself on her leg when he’d moved closer to her.

With Danica, it had always been hit or miss as to if this would work—such as when her Alistair died when she’d been absolutely inconsolable for months—but with Zane it seemed to work. Gradually, his face relaxed again. Kyra did not stop her gentle touches for she knew that the nightmares would likely return if she did.

She continued to soothe the cobra until she nodded off, fingers still resting in his hair.

 

* * *

 

When Zane woke up the following morning, he was confused. Instead of seeing either Kyra’s face or her black hair, he was greeted with the black leather pants that were so common among his people. It wasn’t until he glanced up that he understood why he was seeing Kyra’s legs in front of his face. Judging from her somewhat awkward position, she’d fallen asleep sitting up the previous night.

Of course with his luck when it came to timing, that was when a knock came from the door before one of the Flight opened it. Judging by the momentary look of absolute surprise on the extraordinarily ordinary Avian before he managed to school his features, he clearly hadn’t been expecting to actually come face-to-face with Zane himself. Zane assumed that his knocking on Kyra’s door to wake her up was to prevent him from having to wake Zane, instead the guard would’ve likely made Kyra do it.

The guard, meanwhile, was barely containing his fear at seeing Zane. One spike of panic, especially, had initially been to the sight of those garnet eyes flashing up to meet his own brown ones. The cobra stared at him evenly even as he internally squirmed. He didn’t allow these emotions past the Reserve he’d fallen back on after recovering from that initial fright.

“Yes?” Zane prompted somewhat impatiently as he sat up. He was also forced to control his expression since the transition from that panic to absolute calm made him extremely uncomfortable because of his sixth sense. It felt as if he’d suddenly gone blind in that particular sense.

The guard cleared his throat to allow him to speak without alerting the snake to his fear. “It is only a matter of hours until the ceremony. Milady Shardae requested that I wake her sister. She would like to speak to the two of you before the ceremony. You, especially . . . sir.” The hesitation before the honorific wasn’t overlooked, nor was the slightly sullen tone in which he said it.

“We will be ready in a few minutes. I assume Danica will be coming here since they want to hide me until the last minute?” Zane asked, raising a brow.

“Yes. I will go inform her at once.”

Once the man was gone, Zane flopped back down on his back with a huff. “Kyra? Wake up, my Naga,” he called quietly to wake her up. He was surprised that conversation with the guard hadn’t done the trick. It wasn’t until he gently shook her leg that those scarlet eyes flashed open.

“What is it, Zane?” she managed to say through the fog of sleep, muffled as it was.

“Your sister is apparently going to be here shortly.”

“You scared the guard when he came in, didn’t you?” Kyra asked knowingly. She bent over to lean her head against his for a minute.

“Perhaps. It wasn’t exactly my fault though. He didn’t give me any time to respond before he burst in.”

She shrugged, trying not to succumb to the sleep that was still pulling at the edge of her mind. “They’ve always done that. Why do you think I have such a hard time whenever Adelina barges in like that?”

“It seems like I’m going to learn something new about you every day,” Zane chortled, amused.

“Isn’t that the point of a relationship?” Kyra smirked. “Anyway, I can’t wait to see Danica’s reaction to meeting you. As much as I love her, I doubt she’ll be unaffected by your reputation.”

“We shall see.”

They moved to the suite’s sitting room. The only changes they made since both still had to see one Eleanor Lyssia, whom Kyra had been aware was one of Zane’s spies for years, for what they would be wearing in a few hours, were for Zane to put his shirt back on and for Kyra to change into cotton pants instead of the black leather. The seamstress was talented enough that they would be able to tell her what they’d decided and she could find them something fitting of the occasion.

From then, it was just a waiting game until Danica arrived.


	16. Chapter 16

A quiet knock finally broke the silence that’d reigned for the last several minutes in Kyra’s suite. Kyra was rather surprised when—before she could rise to answer it—Zane stood to open the door. Danica appeared equally shocked since her mouth formed a small “o” before smoothing out once more. The fact that Eleanor was standing behind her looking vaguely amused didn’t escape Kyra.

“I’m Danica. Sorry I didn’t get the chance to meet you sooner but Mother . . .”

“I understand,” he replied softly as he followed her into the room. “I’m sure you’re aware that I’m Zane.”

“What did you need to speak to us about, Dani?” Kyra asked, gesturing for the two newcomers to sit on the couch opposite her and Zane.

“Just ironing out some logistics for the ceremony. First, Rei is going to officiate your bonding and then my swearing in. After that is said and done, I’ll say something—I’ll figure out what, exactly, as I say it probably—to lift the ban on you taking off that circlet or shifting. I assume that you’ll want to say something after that?”

Kyra nodded. “Absolutely. The people need to know that we are serious about this peace and about the way our mother has been treating one of her own daughters.”

“I agree completely. Okay, do you two have any idea what you want to wear since we haven’t had the chance to discuss this with all that has been going on?” Eleanor said quickly, wanting to try her hand at dressing the . . . unique . . . couple.

“Don’t you need to measure Zane?” Danica asked.

“I’ve known Eleanor for years, Danica. I’m sure it won’t surprise you, but we’ve had spies in your ranks for years just like you’ve done to us. Eleanor would never have gone against you, but when I brought up the idea of peace, she agreed to help.” Zane explained. “She was actually the genius behind a few parts of my wardrobe.”

That earned a head shake of exasperation from Kyra. She really should have guessed that he would have an in with Eleanor. “Whatever, why I didn’t expect that, I don’t know, but no matter. Eleanor, we’re going to be switching our people’s usual styles. Anything else is up to you past that.”

Eleanor squeaked happily, clapping her hands excitedly as she bounced up and down. “That’s awesome! Kyra, you have no idea how long I’ve wanted to dress you in Serpiente attire. It fits you so much better than what we’ve got around here. I’ll be back in a bit!”

No one had time to say anything to her as she bolted out the door in her rush of enthusiasm.

Zane laughed quietly. “That girl is one interesting character.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's note: Yeah, sorry it's taken so long to get this out, guys. It's been a bitch of a semester, and I've had no motivation to work on this. Plus, my lovely co-author and I have picked back up working on our actual book, so yeah . . . Sorry this is so short, I'll try to get some more up soon I promise.


	17. Chapter 17

“So, you’re the oh-so-feared Zane?” Danica asked with a small, upwards quirk at the corner of her mouth. “From what I’ve heard from my sister, you are wildly different than your legend.”

  
The emotion of happy teasing that Zane was sensing was enough to send him reeling for a moment, unable to answer until several seconds later. “Is that a good thing, milady?” he inquired awkwardly.

“Relax, Zane. She’s giving you a hard time. When not around others, my sister actually has a sense of humor,” Kyra soothed with a smile.

More seriously, Danica started speaking to her sister, “When you told me of the last prince of the Serpiente crying on the battlefield all those years ago, I didn’t really believe you, Kyra, and I’m sorry. I didn’t want to believe that you truly saw someone that was supposed to be so strong and fearless break down upon seeing his little brother dead. I really just wanted to think that it was only me that was weak enough to feel such things since you never seemed to let it bother you aside from making you angry. I thought the only emotion we were all supposed to feel was anger, but now I know how wrong that was. Just seeing the two of you together right now is a glimpse for me of how things were truly meant to be. I want to thank you, Zane, for showing me that.”

This time both scarlet-eyed shape-shifters were surprised at the words that came from the soon-to-be Avian leader’s mouth. Eventually, it was Zane that replied, “In that case, Danica, thank you for showing me that not all of your kind is heartless. I’d seen it through Kyra, of course, but she is an outlier. You are the very heart of your people, so perhaps there is hope for this crazy endeavor yet.”

Kyra simply smiled, happy beyond reason that the leaders of their lands were already getting along famously. Now, she had no doubt that this would be successful. Of course there would be conflict, but they would see through it.

“Wait . . . What do you mean that Kyra saw me that day?” Zane asked suddenly, realizing what Danica had implied. “That battlefield was empty by the time we arrived.”

“I stayed behind until you showed up, Zane,” Kyra admitted quietly. “I didn’t want anyone defiling Gregory’s body, so I remained until I could see your soldiers in the distance.

After that, I shifted and flew above you for a few minutes.”

A look of realization bloomed across Zane’s pale features. “You were the strange bird I saw that day . . . I tried to ask Irene if she’d ever seen a black eagle, but she just wrote me off as being delusional due to grief.”

Kyra leaned her forehead against his, eyes locking with his fearlessly. “You showed so much emotion on that battlefield that it broke my heart for you. I couldn’t get your face out of my mind for weeks after.”

Without caring that Danica was right there watching the entire exchange, Zane leaned forward to kiss his Naga for an instant. “Thank you for watching over him. My men told me that a hawk was seen with him as he was dying, so thank you both for not letting him die alone.”

“You would have done the same for our brother,” Danica replied knowingly. “We seem to be the generation of change. None of us want this war, and all three of us actually care about ‘the enemy’ dying alone. I just hope everyone will feel the same way in an hour.”

“Don’t worry,” Kyra smiled, turning to look at her sister while squeezing Zane’s hand. “They will or we’ll make them understand.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not even going to try to excuse the gigantic gap in updates, because I've got nothing. I hope you enjoy, I promise I'll get to the actual ceremony in the next chapter WHICH WILL BE POSTED SOON. As always, I hope you enjoy and let me know what you think.


	18. Chapter 18

Once Eleanor had returned with their clothes, Zane and Kyra both disappeared into side rooms to dress. Zane was naturally the first one done, so he returned to the sitting room first. Danica blinked in surprise at the sight that was the cobra. An earthy brown shirt made of cotton and a pair of sandy-colored, calfskin pants did wonders to make him blend into Avian society. His pale skin looked warmer and those ruby eyes seemed almost brown if she didn't focus on them for too long.

"Impressive," the hawk stated with a little nod.

"Thank you, milady," he said politely.

"No need to be quite so formal in private, Zane," Kyra chided as she entered the room. "She  _is_  part of your family, after all."

Zane stared in awe at the sight of Kyra in the Serpiente-style clothes. If he didn't know any better, he would think that she was  _born_  a member of the Cobriana line instead of becoming part of it recently. Eleanor had truly outdone herself with this outfit. The eagle was dressed in a pair of the black leather pants that were so common among his people, a simple black tank-top, and a button-down shirt left completely open that was so vibrantly red that it matched her eyes. A black leather and silver belt held a sword at her side while a choker with a blood red ruby rested around her neck.

"You look . . ." He couldn't finish the sentence because he simply couldn't find a word to describe how beautiful she was.

"Thanks," Kyra said softly, unused to such praise. "You're not so bad yourself. Is this presentable, Danica?"

Dani nodded. Her own attire for the affair consisted of a golden satin tunic-style dress that looked similar to the one Kyra had worn for the Serpiente ceremony. As a small symbol of her bond with her sister she wore a matching ruby choker around her own neck. "Absolutely. I couldn't ask for a better way to show that our people are now united. Let's get this moving, then. We've kept them waiting long enough."

* * *

The next several minutes rivaled the ceremony at the Palace for the most stressful of Kyra's life.

As the trio descended the stairs with Rei following close behind, Kyra clutched Zane's bicep a bit harder than she would care to admit from stress alone. He'd offered his arm in support upon leaving the room. Of course, she'd automatically accepted the gesture, partially because her vision was once again obstructed by a circlet—this one silver to match her outfit. Danica led the way onto the small stage that'd been built for these ceremonies.

The crowd seemed to grow restless at Zane's presence. Kyra could hear people shifting nervously as if in slight fear of an enemy they couldn't see. Murmurs drifted up to them, all wondering who the man was that'd agreed to wed the damaged princess.

Zane caught sight of Nacola's glaring face towards the back of the audience and returned the favor with the arch of one of his elegant, black eyebrows before returning his dangerous gaze to Danica.

In the hawk's mind, she was worried about what was going through her mother's head since Danica had yet to choose an Alistair even though she was being crowned. Ignoring that, she turned to face Rei for the start of the whole ordeal.

"Milady Danica, you have chosen to put off choosing an Alistair until you find a man suitable, correct?" he questioned formally.

"That is correct."

"Then do you swear to devote every ounce of your being to protect your people and this newfound peace?"

Whispers rose from the audience questioning what peace he spoke of.

"I swear."

"Then it is my honor to crown you Tuuli Thea of the Avian Court, replacing your mother Nacola. Serve us well."

"So I shall." Danica turned to face her people. "As your leader, I am the one to inform you of the most momentous occurrence to happen to our people in hundreds of years. We are no longer at war with the Serpiente." She held a hand to call for silence at the verging-on-emotional uproar that followed that announcement. "You might have heard whispers of a meeting we held in the Mistari lands with the Serpiente people; these whispers were true. Their suggestion of creating peace between us was to blend the royal lines for if we cannot coexist, how could we expect you? My mother . . .  _graciously_  accepted the offer, and offered my sister Kyra's hand to bring about this peace.

"In appearance, this was a wise move to be made for the good of our people. In reality, this was simply a chance to free herself of the woman she considers to be a stain on the Shardae name. Not only am I here today to announce our new peace, but I'm also here to correct a great wrong that has been committed against the rightful heir to this throne for as long as she has been alive. My sister is a miracle that we have believed to be a myth for as long as Avians have existed. She was born different than the rest of the Shardae, with a recessive trait we thought had been bred into nonexistence hundreds of years ago. She is an eagle, not a hawk, and she is not blind."

At that, Kyra reached up to remove the circlet and throw it behind her so that it embedded itself into the wall. The crowd gasped at the sight of the ruby eyes that stared back at them.

"There has been a ban on her life forbidding her to see when out of her rooms and forbidding her to shift," Danica continued smoothly. "It is no longer in place. I will not allow my sister to suffer as she has suffered anymore. Imagine if someone told one of you that you could never again take to the skies because your second form was abnormal. We should have been celebrating the return of such a rare trait this whole time instead of condemning it because she is like them. In reality, she is not the damaged princess you all shunned; she is stronger than even I in flight, combat, and will.

"This, in addition to the peace with the Serpiente will remain in place despite your complaints that are no-doubt boiling to the surface as I speak, so you might as well get used to it. The happiest I have ever seen my sister was the night she returned from the Serpiente Palace, and that was because she was away from all of the judgement. Her Alistair accepts, maybe even loves, her for what she truly is. If that doesn't say something about our culture, I don't know what does. That a man she'd never known until quite recently understands her better than her own  _family_  is absolutely  _shameful_ of us. For his understanding, I can think of no better Alistair for my sister than Zane Cobriana, who stands before you today. Thank you, and I look forward to working with you towards peace in the future."

The crowd was in absolute uproar as the cobra raised his head at last to reveal his own scarlet eyes. He'd been careful to only look at the floor until that point to avoid being recognized until the time was right. The sudden loud noise startled him enough that his pupils slipped into slits, earning his arm a squeeze of support from Kyra.

"Thank  _you_ , milady Danica, for being so understanding on the need for peace. I could imagine no better example for your, and mine for that matter, people to follow," he replied earnestly.

"Grand speeches aside," Rei spoke up, "are the two of you ready to be bound?"

Nods from both parties once again silenced the crowd. The court was curious as to how the snake would fare during the oaths when it was hardly a secret as to how obnoxiously open with their emotions the Serpiente were.

Rei faced Zane alone. "Are you willing to swear upon your own spirit and the sky above that you will protect Kyra Shardae from all harm?"

"Upon my own spirit, I will so swear."

"And do you swear that you will never raise voice or hand against her?" There was a challenge in Rei's eyes as he said that. The guard was quite protective of Kyra, so he dared the cobra to break this oath with his glare.

Without hesitation, Zane's garnet eyes met Rei's with no hypnotizing effect in place. "I swear. Never would I willingly harm the woman I love. Never would I harm Kyra Shardae."

That got an infinitesimal look of surprise from him before Rei continued. "Her sister, Danica Shardae, is Tuuli Thea, and so when you swear to a member of her family, you swear to all her people. Will you protect the Tuuli Thea's people as you would your own family, and risk all that is necessary to defend them?"

"I swear upon the tears of the goddess Anhamirak, I will do everything within my power to stop the bloodshed among the Tuuli Thea's people." The sincerity of those words in particular rang loudly in Danica's ears. She didn't doubt anything else he said, but those above all let her know that Zane would never allow their people to return to war. Even if the cost were his own life.

Frantic whispers resumed briefly among the scholars at the reference. Even Nacola's face paled further.

Rei didn't try to hide the small smile at being able to look Kyra in the eye in public for once. "Kyra Shardae, second in line to the throne of Tuuli Thea, you have chosen this man as your alistair. Zane Cobriana, you have sworn to defend Kyra Shardae, your mate, and Danica Shardae, your Tuuli Thea. Upon the words you have spoken, you are bound for life."

Kyra once again squeezed Zane's arm, this time at the fateful ending  _for life._  There would be no turning back now.

All three rulers turned to watch Nacola's reaction to everything that'd just happened. What they saw was her turning to leave the room. Gerard tried to stop her, causing her to go rigid. "The Tuuli Thea has made her choice. My words are meaningless here," she said loudly before leaving quickly.

Kyra had to resist the urge to touch her sister in a show of support since they were in public, and she was already pushing the limit by holding Zane's arm. That kind of cutting remark from their mother would not skate by Danica without causing some kind of emotional damage. Kyra, on the other hand, had grown used to such things long ago.

Once again, Danica spoke. "Yes, it is Zane Cobriana that has just sworn loyalty to myself, my sister, and to you. We have spoken—my sister and I—in depth about wanting an opportunity like this, and from the brief time I have known Zane I know he feels the same. We three believe this is the best way to achieve that peace, and our jobs are to protect you and the Serpiente people." Her posture moved to a more militaristic parade-rest Kyra had no doubt that she had learned from Rei and Vasili.

"I've seen countless people die on the battlefield. People on both sides. You know I have never backed down from going out onto the battlefield to help the wounded. You know I don't flinch from bodies that are brought home. What you don't know is that my sister was always right there beside me. She snuck out of her rooms to help me when the punishment was always more severe than she deserved. To this day, one of the most heartbreaking stories either of us knows was the day our brother Xavier died. After he was gone, I found Gregory Cobriana dying not far away, alone and afraid. Kyra and I stayed with him until he passed away so he wouldn't have to suffer alone. She remained with him to protect his body from harm long enough to see his elder brother,  _Zane_ , find him and cry out in anguish.

"They are not what we have been led to believe. They feel everything more deeply than we can even comprehend. My sister is not much different. We will not be the lofty rulers that are blind to the suffering of our people. As of this moment, the war is over. The Serpiente and Avian people are no longer separate. We are one. We can learn things from one another. I am not naïve enough to think it will be that simple, but I ask you to  _try_  to understand one another. I know it will not be easy to learn to trust them, but it is  _all I ask._ "

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually updated rather quickly guys! Okay, a good portion of this is either exactly from the book or really freaking close, because what was originally there was so well done. Obviously parts have been twisted to fit this story, but I think it works. Let me know what you think and I hope you enjoyed!


	19. Chapter 19

The group quickly retreated back up to Kyra's room after the ceremony. Quickly, Danica and Zane got wrapped up in a conversation about what it was like for a hawk in flight. Kyra, on the other hand found herself out on the balcony overlooking the grounds that led up to the Keep. The snippets of conversation she actually heard brought back vivid images of that near-fatal moment when Danica had been clipped by a serpiente bolt.

Flashes of those beautiful golden brown feathers flapping frantically to find some sort of purchase on the air she was falling through tore through Kyra's mind. If she hadn't snuck out to make sure her sister was safe and followed the group onto the battlefield, Kyra didn't want to think about what might have happened. During those terrifying seconds, the eagle swooped forwards and caught the little hawk on her back. Because of her greater size, Kyra could maintain her altitude even with the weight of her sister pushing them down long enough that Danica was able to regain control and resume flying. The guard had quickly escorted the favored Shardae to safety to attend to her wounds.

Kyra was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't notice Zane approaching her until his cool hand brushed against the bare skin of her side where her shirt had ridden up. She jumped violently and her training caused her to automatically send a punch towards his face. Thankfully, the cobra's reflexes were much better than an avian's, so he easily dodged to the side. His eyes were the characteristic slits of his animal half when she met them a moment later.

"Are you okay?" she asked worriedly, not knowing how he would react to her doing that without thinking.

"I'm fine, Kyra," he assured her. "You didn't even graze me. Are _you_ alright? You seem distracted. You didn't comment when that girl came to alert us that your mother is coming to speak to us."

"I didn't hear her, to be honest. I was thinking about something that happened once."

A cool pair of lips brushed a kiss against her neck. "Anything I can do to help?"

Kyra shook her head. "No. It's long in the past."

Danica looked on in intrigue. The pair seemed to fit together like they were made for one another as they stood facing the black abyss of the night out on the balcony. Murmurs just low enough that she couldn't make out the words drifted back inside to where she was sitting. Looking at the pair, Danica was actually thankful that her mother had arranged such a union between them. If there was ever to be peace between their people, it would obviously start with those two.

Unfortunately, this peaceful line of thinking couldn't last long. Far too soon there was a quick knock on the door before it opened to reveal Nacola.

Kyra could feel Zane tense against her back as she did much the same. Neither turned quite yet, not particularly wanting to converse with the woman that'd caused Kyra so much heartache.

"May I speak to the three of you?" Nacola asked impatiently, obviously not pleased with being momentarily ignored by the couple.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! As usual, sorry this took so long. I plan to write another chapter or two over my thanksgiving break, so I'll have them posted as soon as I do. That's also to make up for the fact that this one's so short. Anyway, hope you enjoy and let me know what you think!


	20. Chapter 20

Kyra took a deep breath before turning out of Zane’s arms. “Yes, Nacola?”

“Is that all the respect for the woman who gave you life? For the one that gave you the chance to save our people?” the hawk demanded.

Over her mother’s shoulder, Kyra could see Danica plop her face into her hands in exasperation. “Why, yes, that is all the respect I have for you, and do you know why?” She held up a hand to silence the woman when she started to speak. “That was rhetorical. The answer is because you’ve treated me with contempt for my entire life, because you’ve made no secret of your attempts to try and keep me from ever flying again, and because you threw me to the snakes with no intention of me being successful at creating this peace. You didn’t care that Zane, especially, had the reputation of being a terrifying monster who would kill me as soon as meet my eyes.” The eagle reached her hand along the balcony’s railing to grasp Zane’s. He’d yet to turn around to look at the former monarch, and a quick glance told Kyra why. His eyes hadn’t changed back to the round pupils of humans yet due to the anger that was roiling under the surface. A gentle squeeze was all it took for him to look at her lovingly. Kyra’s face softened at the expression. “Thankfully, the stories were wrong. I’ve found a place where I’m odd, but I’m not an outcast. In a way, I am grateful to you, but do not for one second think that I have forgiven you.”

“You ungrateful freak,” Nacola hissed, sounding more like a snake than even Zane. “You wouldn’t even exist if it weren’t for me.”

“If it weren’t for you?!” Zane yelled, whirling around to stare down the woman. “You forced her to hide what she truly is! You barred her from something that is _part of her_ and she is your _daughter_. How _dare_ you try to pretend that she should be indebted to you for anything? She is already better than you ever were, and you claim to be superior?”

“Zane,” Danica’s quite voice broke off his rant. “That’s enough for now. I think it would be best that we all rest for the night and continue this conversation tomorrow before the two of you return to your people.”

Kyra nodded. “I agree. I cannot guarantee that I won’t strike you,” her scarlet gaze shifted to Nacola’s gold, “down before this discussion is finished if we continue like this. Zane, do you concur?”

“Get her out of here,” he hissed, eyes never leaving the former monarch.

Nacola, seeming to sense the danger she was in from the dark duo, quickly scurried out of the room with her guard in tow.

“I’ll leave you two, then. I apologize for her behavior.” Danica said before retreating to her own suite.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, so apparently I lied about getting another chapter out before coming back to school. Things came up and I got distracted. Fortunately, this is still out a lot faster than usual, so woo. Hope you enjoyed it and tell me what you think.


	21. Chapter 21

When Kyra turned her gaze back to Zane, the sight that greeted her was precisely what she expected to see. He was standing at the end of their bed, fingers curled into fists and looking like a snake coiled and ready to attack. Which he was. Thinking better of just approaching him, Kyra sat next to where he stood on the bed.

"Are you alright?" she asked quietly. She wasn't exactly afraid of the cobra—at this point she was pretty sure she couldn't be—but she didn't think it to be wise to get too close.

A deep breath left his lips in the form of a low hiss. Slowly, Zane seemed to relax. "Yes. I am . . . sorry for the way I reacted."

Kyra reached out and offered her hand to him. "Why are you apologizing, Zane? You didn't do anything wrong."

"I'm a monarch now," he grumbled, accepting her warm hand with his cool one. "I can't just yell at people who piss me off anymore . . . I'm supposed to be more . . . _regal_ . . . than that, I guess."

That caused the eagle to laugh. "As regal as you are, I don't think that it's going to be a problem that you snapped on her. _She's_ not a monarch anymore. My sister is. And Danica is obviously on our side for this whole situation. Don't worry about offending Nacola."

"So you're not angry at me for yelling at her? She is your mother, after all. I would understand if—"

Kyra broke him off by pulling him down into a kiss. "Don't worry about it so much," she whispered against his lips. "You have no . . . idea . . . how much it means to me . . . that you're willing . . . to stand up to my mother for me," the sentence was punctuated by a series of little kisses after every few words.

Zane smiled a little at her actions. "Oh, really?"

Their lips sealed together again before Kyra could respond.

It was only several minutes later that she found herself even able to. By that point, they'd flipped over so that Zane was lying flush against her body over her with their heads at the foot of the bed. "What are we doing?" she panted slightly.

Zane took a shaky breath. "Only what you're ready for." The look in his eyes told her that he was genuinely willing to stop right there if she wanted.

Which only prompted her to pull at his shirt to get it off.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Zane asked, not willing to budge on the subject until she verbally responded. He knew very well what sex meant to the Avians. It was a much bigger deal than it was to Serpiente.

Kyra almost said those three magical words that seemed so harmless yet meant so much, but she refrained. This wouldn't be how she told him how she felt about him. It wouldn't just be an excuse so she could bed the man. It meant so much more than that. "I trust you, Zane. And I want you."

A shy little grin formed on the cobra's face at those words. Kyra could almost see a tinge of a blush on his cheeks.

"Besides, you're pretty sexy when you're angry," she whispered in his ear. Falling back onto the bed, she relaxed and enjoyed the aftermath of that mildly ridiculous statement.

Zane broke out into full-body giggles with the statement, and his cheeks were thoroughly red. The absurd, out-of-character sentence rendered him useless as he laughed. It was only a few minutes later that he composed himself enough to kiss her once more, but even then he was still grinning.

Things heated up quickly from there.

Yes, it was slightly awkward since it was Kyra's first time, but there were no complaints from either party. Afterwards, the pair collapsed—somehow at the correct end of the bed—in each other's warm embraces and quickly nodded off from exhaustion. Between the stress of the ceremony and the physical exertion they'd just enjoyed, it wasn't a big surprise that they were tired.


	22. Chapter 22

As soon as the door closed behind them, Nacola rounded on her other daughter. "You would support that poor excuse for an Avian before your own mother?"

It was then that Danica decided to forsake the traditional air of respect she normally wore when talking to her mother. Grabbing the woman's hand, Danica dragged Nacola upstairs to her suite to prevent causing a scene in the hall. Once inside, Danica slammed the door closed behind them. "Yes, I would support Kyra over you, Mother. And do you know why?"

When stunned silence was the only response, Danica scoffed and started pacing. "Kyra is the only one that's been around despite everything. As soon as our family started dying off because of the war you did _nothing_ to try to stop, you became a recluse. You made it to where not only could Kyra not go outside and stretch her wings freely, but I couldn't either. You tried to lock me in a cage that was disguised as my room. We are meant to be free and soar the skies. It is our _gift_. And you tried to take that away from me. Kyra not only escaped to stretch her own wings, but she helped me do the same even though it would have been easier to go alone. She's the only one that has acted like my family member since Xander died. Besides, I know her. Her attempts for peace are nothing but genuine."

"You say this and yet she is the one who has taken to sleeping with a _snake_."

"A snake that you gave her no choice but to marry!" Danica yelled. "You got rid of her the first chance you could! It could have been a ploy to take out what's left of our family and you just served her up on a platter! You're _lucky_ Zane was genuine in his desire for peace, and she's lucky they're perfect for each other. We have a chance at something that our kinds haven't had in _generations_."

" _Because of me!_ "

" _NO!_ Because of Kyra working with Zane to end this. Had they not agreed or gotten along we would still be losing dozens of soldiers every day. But it's becoming clear to me that you have no interest in listening," Danica sighed. "Andrios!" she called.

Her guard was at the door within seconds. "Yes, Dani?"

"Escort my mother to her rooms and see that she doesn't leave until I come get her tomorrow," Danica ordered.

"Yes, Milady."

As soon as the pair were gone, the Tuuli Thea collapsed down onto her back on her bed with a sigh. "Well . . . That could have gone better," she muttered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As usual, sorry this took so long. I thought it would be a good idea to show something going on with someone that wasn't our dynamic duo, so here it is. Hope you enjoyed and let me know whatcha think.


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